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European Championship
The European Championship was a competition featuring robots from across Europe that took place during the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. It was broadcast as the final episode of Extreme Series 2 and was originally shown on BBC Choice on February 7, 2003, but the series was dropped by the BBC before it could be shown on BBC Two. It was repeated on Dave on 22 January, 2011 at 11am. This episode was also broadcast as the final episode of German Robot Wars on November 2, 2002 on RTL II. Differences between versions The European Championship was one of three tournaments to be contested in multiple versions of Robot Wars. In the UK version, Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester presented, with Jonathan Pearce providing the commentary. In the German version, Jürgen Törkott was the presenter and pit reporter, interviewing all the teams and translating between English and German for the non-German-speakers, with Volker Wolf providing the commentary. The line-up shown below is for the UK version of the competition. In the German version, the fights were aired in a different order, which was as follows: Black Hole vs Zeus, Philipper 2 vs Rawbot, Tornado vs Snake Bite, Razer vs PulverizeR. The semi-final line-ups were also swapped around. Competing robots The championship featured eight robots, representing seven different European countries. The national champions of the UK, the Netherlands and Germany all took part, as well as the reigning World Champion, Belgian Champion and representatives from Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. The eight robots were paired off and competed in a straight knock-out tournament until the European Champion was decided. The following statistics board use their details from the English version of the episode. Round 1 Razer (UK) vs PulverizeR (NED) Prior to the match, Mischa de Graaf danced with Philippa Forrester, who stood on the team's wooden shoes, while Team Razer read a letter that PulverizeR's team had sent, reading "We're gonna cream your crank!!! With love, PulverizeR". Razer forced PulverizeR on the back foot, pushing it into the Disc of Doom release, but found it hard to grab hold of its opponent due to its shape, and PulverizeR was able to attack Razer with its spinning disc. PulverizeR then slammed into the arena wall, which saw it attacked by Growler, with Razer finally able to grab hold of it, where it pierced through its armour with ease. Growler pulled PulverizeR from Razer's grip and separated the two machines, but Razer quickly grabbed hold of PulverizeR again and pushed it into the pit release button. PulverizeR managed to wriggle itself loose and moved away, but Razer continued to pursue its opponent. Razer grabbed hold of PulverizeR again, but only temporarily. After slamming into Refbot, PulverizeR finally made an impression on the battle itself by scoring a hit on Razer's beak, but due to damage sustained to its transmitter, it was still not fully in control, and drove into the open pit, awarding the win to the World Champion over the Dutch Champion. Winner: Razer Black Hole (GER) vs Zeus (ITA) The two robots immediately engaged and Zeus attempted to flip Black Hole, but the end part of its flipper flew off the machine. Black Hole then launched an attack with its spinning discs and the impact sent Zeus flying across the arena and it landed upside-down. Black Hole continued to punish Zeus, which was trying in vain to self-right. Eventually, one of Black Hole's attacks righted Zeus, but it had become immobilised, so Black Hole continued its barrage of attacks, sending Zeus over and back onto its wheels repeatedly. Eventually, Zeus was left for dead in the CPZ, where Mr. Psycho flattened down with its hammer. Dead Metal tried to attack Zeus with its circular saw, but was unable to leave an impression on Zeus' base. Finally, Zeus was counted out by Refbot and pitted by Mr. Psycho. Winner: Black Hole Snake Bite (SUI) vs Tornado (UK) Tornado went into this battle using its static scoop and immediately pursued Snake Bite, but pushed it into an empty CPZ, which allowed it to move away. Tornado continued to harass the Swiss robot though, and slammed it into the arena wall before forcing it into the CPZ once more, which Dead Metal had now occupied. Snake Bite managed to escape, but not before Dead Metal had caused sparks on more than one occasion. Tornado kept up the pressure by pushing Snake Bite across the arena floor and into Mr. Psycho's CPZ. Snake Bite narrowly dodged the House Robot's hammer, but then suddenly stopped moving after driving over a steam vent and was attacked by both House Robots together. Snake Bite was counted out by Refbot and was pitted by Tornado directly afterwards. While Snake Bite was pitted, Mr. Psycho brought down its hammer to crumple the back end of Snake Bite, which Andrew Marchant visibly called 'unfair'. Winner: Tornado Philipper 2 (BEL) vs Rawbot (SWE) Rawbot immediately slammed into Philipper 2, but was lifted into the air by the Belgian robot's flipper. The two robots engaged again, where another lift from Philipper 2 saw both robots locked together, balancing on one side each. After spinning around in circles, the two robots separated, before Rawbot was pushed slowly into the Disc of Doom's release tyre and flipped. Rawbot escaped and activated the pit release button. Rawbot then tried to lure Philipper 2 towards the pit by sitting right next to it, but was very nearly pushed into the pit as Philipper 2 attacked. Philipper 2 used its flipper at the last moment which threw Rawbot away from the pit and the Swedish machine made its escape. Philipper 2 took chase and caught Rawbot, grabbing hold of it with its crushing pincer, then carried it towards the pit and dropped it in, achieving the pitting on the second try, awarding the win to Belgium. Winner: Philipper 2 Round 2 Black Hole (GER) vs Philipper 2 (BEL) Black Hole immediately attacked the side of Philipper 2 with its spinning discs, causing visible damage to the Belgian machine. Philipper 2 tried to respond and gave chase to Black Hole, but was caught side on again and was thrown aside by the German machine. Black Hole continued to cause damage, chewing away at the rear end of Philipper 2, which then ran away and activated the pit release button. The action drifted towards the CPZ, where Shunt scored a hit on Philipper 2 with the axe, before Philipper 2 was finally able to assert itself on the battle by flipping Black Hole over. The invertible Black Hole carried on and both robots edged close to the pit, before moving away. Black Hole continued to attack the sides of Philipper 2, but the Belgian machine was able to withstand the damage, with only small chips of armour being damaged, as Black Hole's discs were now spinning in the wrong direction. Black Hole then turned onto Philipper 2's front, which saw it lifted aside by the flipper. Philipper 2 then met Black Hole head-on and was able to use its superior traction to push Black Hole into the Pit of Oblivion. Winner: Philipper 2 Razer (UK) vs Tornado (UK) Razer immediately tried to attack Tornado, but Tornado was initially able to escape. Razer continued to try to get purchase on Tornado's frame, but was slammed back into Sgt. Bash's CPZ. Razer moved away from danger though, and then used its new hook to grab hold of Tornado by the frame, and raised it up into the air. Razer then reversed into the pit release button and tried to carry Tornado towards the pit, but the motors burnt out at that point and it was unable to finish Tornado off. Razer fought hard to carry Tornado the small distance to the pit, but once again Tornado was too big to fit and cease was called. The judges gave the win to Razer, but Simon Scott and Vincent Blood of Razer clearly disagreed with the decision and later decided to give the victory to Tornado as they felt that their robot had been immobilised for more than 30 seconds. Winner: Razer (victory later given to Tornado) Final Tornado (UK) vs Philipper 2 (BEL) Tornado immediately slammed into the side of Philipper 2, but was unable to push it due to the Belgian robot's impressive amount of traction. Tornado eventually managed to get some purchase on the arena floor and pushed Philipper 2 into the CPZ and then into an angle grinder. Philipper 2 tried to get into a position to push Tornado, but the UK machine was too quick and continued to slam into its opponent. Philipper 2 then got wedged in on the flame pit, with Refbot's help needed to free it. Tornado activated the pit release button and tried to push Philipper 2 towards danger, but Philipper 2 stood firm and refused to be budged. Tornado repositioned to push Philipper 2 side on and nearly forced its opponent into the pit but Philipper 2 used its incredible traction to back away at the last. Tornado continued to attack though, and managed to tear off one of Philipper 2's rear panels. Tornado backed away, as Philipper 2 and Sergeant Bash tussled, before Philipper 2 edged next to the pit in an attempt to lure Tornado, before it got too close to the edge and Tornado was finally able to push it into the Pit of Oblivion. European Champion: Tornado Trivia *This episode, like the Commonwealth Carnage, was originally intended to have 12 competitorsRobot Wars Forum (Archived). *The European Championship was the final appearance of Philippa Forrester as pit reporter. *This was the fifth and final time that Razer and Tornado fought, the grudge match standing at 2-2. Despite Razer being given the win, both Simon Scott and Vincent Blood elected to concede the match to Tornado, as they felt that the decision was wrong. This was also the second and final time that a judges decision was overturned. *The battle board showed the Dutch PulverizeR with an Irish flag behind it. *The final was a grudge match from The Second World Championship where Tornado defeated the first incarnation of Philipper on a judges' decision. Team Tornado chose to use the same weapon as they did the first time. *The final time the Disc of Doom was used until it was removed in Series 7. References Category:Robot Wars Extreme 2 Category:German Series Category:International Events